


Unexpected Visits

by completelyhopeless



Series: Detective Grayson and Forensic Batgirl [5]
Category: DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe, Case Fic, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 11:24:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3066059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/completelyhopeless/pseuds/completelyhopeless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After seeing to Alfred and Tim's safety, Barbara goes to see her father. Dick pays a visit to someone else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpected Visits

**Author's Note:**

> So... This was section was hard to write. Not only did I have lots of errands to do between when I started it and now, but I also had some trouble figuring out how Dick and Jason interacted in this universe as well as Dick's flashbacks. Even Gordon was a bit difficult to pin down.
> 
> Well, anyway, hopefully it still all works.

* * *

“Are you sure about this?” Barbara asked in a low voice, trying to keep the others from hearing. She had help—Alfred was fussing over Tim and Bruce at the same time, keeping them all distracted. She needed to talk to Dick, would rather do it alone, but they didn't have a lot of time.

“You mean about leaving Tim and Alfred for Bruce to protect?” Dick asked, not looking back at her as he spoke. She didn't like that much, but maybe he figured it was a way of keeping the others from realizing that he was talking to her at all. “It's not the greatest idea, I won't deny that, but I do not know many other people I trust, and Bruce is sober right now. He actually has been since I left.”

“Another reason not to go back?”

Dick nodded slowly. “I think so. I don't know. It could still fall apart with me gone, but I think as long as he thinks I'll come back if he's sober, he'll stay that way.”

“Warped logic, but it seems to work for both of you,” she said, shaking her head at them both. She moved closer to him, nudging him with her elbow. “You know Kowlinski knows you. He will follow your connection to Bruce and Alfred. If he comes after Tim, he'll know where to look.”

“On the surface, yes, but Bruce isn't a man who lives much on the surface. He'll take them and disappear. That part isn't really an issue.” Dick let out a breath. “The issue is how far Kowlinski will go if he realizes I know. I've done my best to keep him thinking I'm not a threat, that he's won, but I don't think that will work anymore. I pulled Tim out, and Kowlinski will be suspicious. How suspicious... That I don't know. He might move against me. He might move against you. I just don't know if playing it business as usual is the right course or not.”

“Might be the only card we have to play,” she said. She didn't know. “And I can defend myself. Don't get any overly chivalrous ideas. I don't need you to protect me.”

“Babs, you do realize that you were doing ballistics tests the second time I came down to your lab. I've seen you fire a gun. Several of them, in fact. Even if I hadn't, I wouldn't doubt you for a second.”

“Really? Because somehow I could see you being all about the women not in the field and crime fighting being for men only.”

“Maybe when I was younger. Bruce's ex Selina did a good job of showing me how wrong that was, though. I liked her. She was one of few women in Bruce's life I actually liked.” Dick frowned, shaking his head. “I'm not sure why I told you that. It's—”

“Did you get any sleep after I left last night?”

“Not much,” he admitted. When she continued to stare at him, he fessed up a bit more. “It's not like Alfred's licensed to prescribe pills, and even if he was, I wouldn't take them. My ribs were a bit hard to ignore. That's all.”

She studied him. She didn't know if it was her doubting that he was telling the truth about why he'd lost sleep, using his injuries as cover for something else again, or if she was starting to worry about what might happen with him already injured and at a disadvantage.

“Dick—”

“I'm fine. I can handle this. You don't want to hear it, but I've worked through worse than a couple bruised ribs.” Dick let out a breath. “You might want to go see your father tonight.”

“Are you kidding me? You told me earlier that you respected my ability to protect myself, but now you want me to run home to Daddy?”

He laughed. “No. I don't—I just—It's... You seeing your father isn't that far out of normal, right? So if you go there, he figures out what Bruce is up to... They always had a way of contacting each other. Your dad will know how to let him or us know if something goes wrong.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “Why is it, if Dad and Bruce are so close, I never met you before you came down into my batcave?”

“Let's just say that I was the one thing your father and Bruce couldn't agree with. Your father... He wanted me to be able to be a kid. Bruce needed me to work with him. They got along fine as long as I wasn't part of the discussion.”

“Figures.”

“Your dad's a good guy. I think he genuinely wanted to help me, so I guess I owe him.”

Another suspicion came into her mind. “Is that why we're friends?”

“No.” Dick smiled at her, that big goofy grin of his. “Has absolutely nothing to do with it. That is all you, Babs. But I'm going to skip out on the family reunion. Sorry, but Alfred's distraction is about to end, and I am not going to stay for Bruce's lecture. Too much to do.”

She grabbed for him, but he jumped out of her reach, landing next to the door and waving as he left. She shook her head. “Idiot.”

* * *

“Barbara. This is a surprise. Didn't think you were planning on coming to see the old man for a while, maybe not ever,” her father teased as he opened the door. She smiled, leaning in to kiss his cheek and resisting the urge to help him with anything. Even now, he was determined to do it on his own, and she respected it, though it was hard not to do things for him. It was faster, more practical, but also a great blow to his pride.

They'd done enough to that already when he got shot and they forced him to retire.

“So, what brings you by? Need the expertise of an old grump in a chair or just taking pity on me?”

“Dad,” she said, frustrated. Sometimes she wished that the man who'd shot him was still alive so she could find him and hurt him, pay him back some for what he'd put her father through. All that thug had wanted was the commissioner dead, but he'd gotten more than he would have thought when he failed. Her father was still alive, but he wasn't the same. “It's not pity. It will _never_ be pity.”

He nodded, and she knew he'd never believe that, either. She took off her coat and hung it on the rack before following him into the kitchen. “Help yourself to anything you want. Did you eat? Of course you didn't. You worked late again.”

“Actually, Alfred insisted on making me eat before he'd agree to leave with Bruce, so I'm well-fed for a change,” she said, and her father turned back to stare at her. She should have eased into that subject, but there wasn't a good way of bringing it up.

“Alfred is involved in one of your cases?”

“More by accident than anything. He looks out for a kid named Tim who took some pictures that he shouldn't,” Barbara explained. She leaned against the counter, knowing her father would feel better if she took out a glass at least and had some water. “He got a photo of a cop. Kowlinski.”

Her father's grip tightened on his chair. “I knew he was dirty. Could tell from the day he got hired on. Couldn't prove it and then...”

Then they forced him out and Gotham's police might as well have been nonexistent for all any of them really upheld the law. She didn't know how much longer she would have stayed on herself if not for Dick. She'd been approached by private firms in the past, and their offers looked more and more appealing by the day.

“Dick sent them both to Bruce to protect them since we didn't know any cops we could trust.”

“Dick?”

She shook her head. “Don't pretend you didn't know. Bruce's ward may have only made detective a few months back, but you knew he was a cop. He might even be the only cop in Gotham that's not crooked.”

“Most people wouldn't think so, not after he was raised by Bruce.”

She snorted. “You're not most people, and you know better. You know them both. Dick made it sound like you and Bruce were still close, closer than I knew. He said you'd be able to find Bruce and Bruce would contact you if something went wrong.”

“I would.”

She shook her head, trying to pull in her anger. She supposed her father wouldn't want to tell her anything about Bruce, not when that man always reminded her of her mother's death, but she was still angry with him for keeping this from her. “Did you two really fight over Dick?”

Her father nodded, smiling slightly. “About the only thing we did disagree on besides Bruce's drinking. That man had a gift in that boy—first time he pulled himself out of the bottle it was for Dick, and I think most of the others were, too—but even when he knew it, he didn't appreciate it. Dick would have done anything for him, and he did. He was more of an adult in that house than Bruce was half the time. It wasn't right. He should have been able to be a kid when he was a kid, not a private investigator and nursemaid to a drunk.”

“You still care about Bruce, though, and you never got child services involved.”

“That what Dick told you?”

“No.”

Her father shook his head. “Dick went into protective services more than once. The last time, he and that kid Jason put the director and two other employees in the hospital. Turns out the guy was selling kids from the home to an underground black market. Dick had all the proof for me along with one request—that I stop trying to get him away from Bruce. The guy was still a drunk, but better the devil he knew, apparently, and after that, I found it hard to disagree.”

She nodded. Bruce was flawed, but he was still better than that. “You knew Jason.”

“Met him a couple times. Why? He involved in this thing that's got Alfred in hiding? Bruce always figured the kid would snap for good and be uncontrollable.”

“Was he really conditioned into an assassin?”

“Maybe.” Her father let out a breath. “It was impossible to prove anything. Dick had gathered a lot of information on this ring of assassins, but they were like phantoms. We couldn't find any of them to arrest, not even the middle man.”

“Maroni. Or Zucco. Or whatever the hell he's calling himself these days.”

“Yeah. Him. He got away again, and even if he hadn't, Jason disappeared. He was the only real lead and he was wanted for murder himself. Everyone knew Maroni was behind Dick's parents dying, but even though he was there, he couldn't finger the man. The case fell apart, Bruce fell apart, and not long after that, Dick left to become a cop.”

“Was Dick one of those assassins, too?”

Her father shrugged. “No one knows, except maybe Maroni, but no one could bring him in to ask. He never snapped like Jason did, so everyone kind of assumed he wasn't. Maybe the programming didn't take. Maybe it wasn't ever about that. Maybe Maroni's clients changed their mind about wanting Dick for it. No one knows.”

Except Maroni. He did, and if he talked at all, Kowlinski might know.

“Barbara,” her father said, reaching for her hands. “Promise me you'll be careful. I won't tell you not to get involved because you already are. And I can't tell you to stop because I know you won't. I just can't—I can't help you, can't protect my little girl—”

“I have always admired you,” she told him, leaning down to kiss his forehead. “You're my hero. I love you. And I'm not the one taking any of the risks here. Dick is. I'll be fine.”

Her father squeezed her hand. “You'd better be. I can't lose you, too.”

* * *

“One more move and you're dead.”

“Easy, Jay,” Dick said, forcing himself not to move or react too much to the threat, knowing how that would end. He knew there was a gun pointed at his head, and he just had to stay still long enough to convince the man holding it not to fire. “It's just me.”

“Damn it, Dick,” Jason muttered. “Don't walk uninvited into my place like that. Next time, I'll shoot you. I almost did _this_ time. Haven't you heard of a _phone?”_

“Need I remind you what Bruce can and still does to my phone because he's a paranoid overprotective idiot? If I called you, he'd know. As it is, I had to pull _another_ GPS chip out of my phone and leave the phone behind just so he couldn't track me. If I called, you'd be yelling at him, not at me.”

Jason grunted, and Dick heard the safety click back into place. “I don't know how you stand him, Dick. I'd have shot him years ago.”

“My relationship with Bruce is screwed up. Even I can admit that,” Dick agreed, shutting the door behind him. He leaned against it, closing his eyes for a moment. His ribs weren't bothering him at the moment, but he didn't know that he could count it as a good sign. He'd been on alert all the way here, trying to ensure he didn't have any kind of tail, but he didn't know that he'd done enough.

“Yeah, it is. What are you doing here?”

“Maroni surfaced,” Dick answered, not sugarcoating it. Jason always hated when he did, and he didn't really have time for it now. “He's in Gotham again.”

Jason swore, loudly, and Dick almost smiled at the inventive nature of the words that his friend used. He'd added to that part of his vocabulary, and it shouldn't be funny, but under the circumstances, he'd take whatever he could get as a laugh. “We're gonna kill him this time, right?”

“No.”

“You're an idiot, you know. I don't get it. The guy killed your parents. What is with you being unwilling to do what needs to be done? Even that badge of yours isn't going to cut it. He needs to die.”

“Maroni is just the middle man,” Dick reminded him. “We need him alive to tell us who is really behind him. It won't end if it's just him that dies. And I don't want you killing him. You don't have to kill. I don't care what they made you do when you were younger. You don't have to be that now.”

Jason grunted, going over to his couch. “Yeah, and you don't have to be an idiot now, but you still are. How long are you going to hide behind that excuse? Maroni killed your parents. You really think he should get away with that, even if he is the middle man?”

“I don't know that he killed my parents,” Dick said, swallowing down the sickness that always came with the images in his head. “They tell me I was there. That I must have seen it happen. I can see them now the way I did then, the blood, the empty eyes, the open mouths, the blood... I _can't_ see how they got like that. I don't remember a gun shot or a scream or anything. Those things should be there. I should know. I'd have to dig into their autopsy reports to know, though, and somehow, I've never been able to do it. I know Maroni was there _after._ I remember him from _after_ it happened. I don't know that he was actually the one that did it, just that he had me after.”

Jason fidgeted on the couch. After a few moments of silence, he said, “Isn't that enough?”

“I don't know.” Dick said. Then he shook his head. “No. It isn't.”

“Idiot.”

“Maybe.”

_The air smelled funny and he was cold. Dick didn't remember anything ever being that cold before. His head hurt, and he couldn't stop shivering. Something moved in front of him, and he almost screamed, but no sound came out._

_“No talking, kid. You talk, you end up like your parents. Get it?”_

_Dick nodded, wishing there was somewhere to run, but he was trapped between the shadow and the wall and there was nowhere to go._

_“Good,” the shadow said, patting his cheek. Dick felt something wet and hoped it was just his own tears and not his parents' blood._

“Hey.”

Dick jerked when something shook him, and he reached out for a weapon, but Jason's hand caught his first. He knew that reaction well. They both did.

“Dreams are back again, aren't they?” Jason asked, and Dick didn't have to answer because the other man already knew. “Go on. Bedroom's that way. It's too late for you to head back anyway. Get some sleep. I'll keep watch.”

“Don't kill anyone.”

“No promises.”

* * *

_“That's it, take the knife, kid,” the man said, breath hot in Dick's ear, and he tried to push away, but he was trapped again. He couldn't get free of the shadow, and he hated it. “Show me those circus tricks of yours. I know you can.”_

_“Let me go,” Dick said, trying to drop the knife but the man was holding his hand shut. “Please.”_

_“I thought I told you what would happen if you didn't do what I said. You want to end up dead?”_

_He shuddered. “If it means you let me go.”_

_The man hit him, and Dick tasted blood in his mouth. It made him sick to his stomach. “No.”_

* * *

“You owe me a new lamp.”

Dick winced. “I threw a lamp?”

“You really should get back in the habit of keeping knives by you when you sleep,” Jason said, looking down at him. “Hell, you live alone. Who are you worried about killing if you do throw them? And don't say you wouldn't get the damage deposit back. Who the hell cares? You're an idiotic boy scout.”

“Was never a boy scout,” Dick muttered, rolling over and grabbing his gun from underneath the other pillow. He sat up slowly, trying not to piss off his ribs. “Though I know it still embarrasses you that you were.”

“I should kill you for that. You said you weren't going to tell anyone.”

“You develop multiple personalities while you've been here? All that isolation went to your head?”

“Screw you.”

“Just saying—the only one I mentioned it to was you, so it wasn't telling anyone,” Dick said, getting to his feet. “This place is compromised. I can't believe you let me sleep. Or that I did. This was a bad idea. I shouldn't have come.”

Jason shrugged. “I'm thinking you stopped firing on all cylinders long before you showed up at my door. You want to tell me why I have to leave or should I just shoot you?”

“Thought I did,” Dick said, watching his step as he crossed the floor. He'd say something about cleaning up the mess, but he'd made it, so he should do it. He didn't remember breaking the lamp, should have heard it, but when he was like that, he wasn't aware of much. “You got any cereal?”

“Not that I'd share with you.”

Dick laughed. That was only to be expected. He could go through a box in less than half an hour, which was why he never managed to keep any in his own apartment. He'd just have to go without for a little while, pick up something on the way home.

“How long?”

“To get out? We should already have left.”

“Not that. How long have the dreams been back?”

“Since the first girl died. Not that she was the first, just the first one I knew about. There were others before her,” Dick answered, hopping onto the counter to take down a mug from the cupboard. Jason always kept them above Dick's reach just to annoy him. Jason had already made coffee, though, so he might as well take some before he left.

“The hell. These their rejects?”

“No. Their practice.” Dick slid down and got himself a cup of coffee. “They've got someone new, and they've been using prostitutes to train them to kill.”

“And they just left them for you to find?”

“They're hookers. No one cares.” Dick saw Jason's look and shook his head. “I'm telling you this as a cop. None of them care. None of them noticed a pattern or did even the bare minimum to work their cases. They're just streetwalkers in Gotham and they don't mean a thing to anyone.”

Jason snorted. “They do to you, dumbass. You put a bulls-eye on your back yet, or should I do it for you?”

“It's been there for a while.”

“Of course it has. What are you gonna do about it?”

“Don't,” Dick warned, pointing a finger at him. “I know that look, and no. You are not coming back with me. You are not going to be any part of this. You are not going to kill anyone. I will be fine. I just wanted to warn you. If they start trying to clean up again, they'll come after you.”

Jason grinned. “I've been waiting for them to come for a while now. This should be fun.”

“Yeah, sure. With our luck, this new kid they're training will turn out to be Bruce's illegitimate son. Or daughter.”

“Damn. Bruce with a kid? A real blood one? Talk about a nightmare.”

“Exactly,” Dick said, smiling as he finished his coffee. He set the cup in the sink and took out his keys. “I'd better get back.”

Jason had smiled with the joke, but it didn't last. “I know you're an idiot, and you'll always be an idiot, but try not to get dead. I don't own anything nice to wear to your funeral.”

Dick shook his head, fighting another smile. He gave Jason a hug, ignoring the way his friend tensed up when he did. “Just take care of yourself, Jay. I don't want anything to happen to you.”

“Quit trying to protect me.”

“Can't. Older brother. Cop. Comes with the territory.”

“So does dying.”

“That mean you care?”

“Hell, no.”

“That's what I thought.”


End file.
